Transcendentalism
Introduction Transcendentalism is an American intellectual movement of the early 19th century. It transformed the American Society in spiritual,philosophical ,literary, and social aspects by emphazing: First, the potential and intuition of indviduals that transend empiricism and rationality. Second, the significance of human's relationship with nature. The dominant figures of this movement include Ralph Waldo Emerson-he founder of Transcendentalism, Henry David Thoreau-Emerson's disciple and a devoted Transcendentalist and Margaret Fuller-a core member of the Transcendentalist Club. Transcendentalism was mainly sparked by English Romanticism, Kantian Idealism, and flaws in the Unitarian Church. The Transcendentalists criticized their society for its blind conformity, and advocated that each person find "an original relation to the universe". Emerson and Thoreau explored this relation in solitude in nature, and in their reflection. Historical context ''Romanticism'' Romanticism, a prior movement that inlfuenced Transcendentalism, originated around the end of 18th century, and its impact became most promient by 1840s. The philosophies of Transcendentalism were similar to Romanticism in many aspects. Both movements were born as a reaction to strict traditions, laws and religious rules of the time.' '''They both placed a huge emphasis on the individual as well as inspiration from nature and encouraged the individual to discover their own truth rather than comply with the idea of the society. However, Romanticists believe that the natural world was good, while humans were corruptible. The closer human beings could get to their natural state the more pure they would be. In contrast, Transcendentalists believed in the inner goodness of all human beings. ''Unitarianism American transcendentalism was primarily a spiritual movement that began as a religious protest within the Unitarian church.Transcendentalism originated among New England Congregationalists, who abandoned orthodox Calvinism because "they believed in the importance and efficacy of human striving, as opposed to the bleaker Puritan picture of complete and inescapable human depravity"(Goodman, para 2). Later on they found out that Unitarianism was also not enough-"Unitarians attempted to reconcile empiricism with Christianity by maintaining that the accounts of miracles in the Bible provide overwhelming evidence for the truth of religion" (Goodman, para 3). In this context, Emerson asked in 1836: “Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe...and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs” (Emerson, "Nature", intro). The individual's “revelation” or “intuition,” as Emerson was later to speak of it—was to be the counter to Unitarian empiricism. The individuals' revelation later became a core tenet of Transcendentalism. ''Detest toward technology The love of nature and pure life lead to Transcendentalists' rejection of technology. In ''Walden, ''Thoreau called out:""Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!" (Thoreau, ''Walden, 101).He believed that a simple life, which people can find in the natural world, was the most successful and meaningful. Transcendentals did not like the complexity of technology and preferred the quiet nature to the roaring cities. According to Emerson, "In the woods is perpetual youth...in the woods we return to reason and faith" (Emerson, "Nature", chapter I.Nature). Technology brings along corrupted societies' influence, and woods, simpler and more pure, protects people from all these ills so that reason and faith can exist within innocence and untainted land. (A Guide to American Transcnendentalism) ''The Dial and Transcendentalist Club An important source for the transcendentalists' knowledge of German philosophy was Frederic Henry Hedge, an Unitarian Minister. Hedge wrote a review of the work of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, one of the founders of Romantic movement , for the Christian Examiner in 1833. He was disappointed that "Coleridge had not made Kant and the post-Kantians more accessible to an English-speaking audience and tried to introduce the 'transcendental philosophy' of Kant himself" (Goodman, para 5). Hedge organized what eventually became known as the Transcendental Club, by suggesting to Emerson in 1836 that they form a discussion group for disaffected young Unitarian clergies. The club members included Hedge, Emerson, George Ripley,Bronson Alcott,Orestes Brownson, Theodore Parker, Henry David Thoreau, William Henry Channing and other ethusiastic thinkers. Margaret Fuller, notably, was one of the few female members who later became a central figure in Transcendentalism. In October 1839, members of the Transcendental Club had the idea of establishing their own periodical as a platform for their ideals. Margaret Fuller accepted the editor position on' 'October 20, 1839.The first issue of ''The Dial was published in July 1840. Philosophy ''Individualism & Self-Reliance'' Self-reliance is one the major beliefs of Transcendentalism. Transcendentalists belive that people are at their best when they are by themselves. Society, and organizations, on the other hand, were criticized and detested by Transcendentlists. Emerson, in particular, exalted and pursued the ideals of individualism and self-reliance he said: "Envy is ignorance...imitation is suicide" (Emerson, "Self-Reliance", para 2). He also described the unlimited potential of an indvidual in his speech "The American Scholar": "The theory of books is noble. The scholar of the first age received into him the world around; brooded thereon; gave it the new arrangement of his own mind, and uttered it again. It came into him, life; it went out from him, truth. It came to him, short-lived actions; it went out from him, immortal thoughts. It came to him, business; it went from him, poetry. It was dead fact; now, it is quick thought. It can stand, and it can go. It now endures, it now flies, it now inspires Precisely in proportion to the depth of mind from which it issued, so high does it soar, so long does it sing." -"The American Scholar", Ralph Waldo Emerson, para 5 Later on, Emerson's follower Thoreau put his ideal into practice. For two years Thoreau carried out the most famous experiment in self-reliance at Walden Pond. He tried to live self-sufficiently in isolation and made deep reflections in solitude-"he wrote about the simplicity and unity of all things in nature, his faith in humanity, and his sturdy individualism" (26f-Transcendentalism...US History). ''Nature'' The publication of Emerson's essay Nature ''in 1836 created the fuoundation of Transcendentalism.Through the tranquility of the natural world, the Transcendentalists learn about "respect and appreciation, acquire wisdom, and trascend their mind."(A Guide to American Transcendentalism) Transcendentalists hold that humans must recognize the spirit of nature, and accept it as the Universal Being. Emerson explains that nature is not “fixed or fluid;” to a pure spirit, nature is everything: “Nature is not fixed but fluid. Spirit alters, moulds, makes it. The immobility or bruteness of nature, is the absence of spirit; to pure spirit, it is fluid, it is volatile, it is obedient” (Emerson, "Nature", chapter VII. Spirit). Many past Transcendentals "voyaged to the natural world to find spiritual identity". (A Guide to American Transcendentalism). Thoreau, perhaps most famous for his ''Walden, appreciated nature living in a little cabin next the Walden Pond. He reminded everyone that life is wasted "pursuing wealth and following social customs". On the contraty, Nature can show that "all good things are wild and free."(26f-Transcendentalism...US History) ''Idealism & Anti-Rationalism'' Influenced by German Philosopher Immanuel Kant's The Critique of pure rationalism,''Transcendentalism developed as a reaction against 18th Century rationalism. It emphasized the power of intuition of individuals as a mean to derive the truth. ranscendentalists believe that people can trust themselves to be their own authority on what is right. People, men and women equally, have knowledge about themselves and the world around them that transcends what they can sense. This knowledge comes through intuition not through logic as Emerson closed his speech "The American Scholar" with the following: "We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds... A nation of men will for the first time exist, because each believes himself inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men"(Emerson, "Scholar", para 45). Religion Transcendentalism was primarily a religious movement, and its' followers viewpoint of God was crucial to an understanding of the philosophy. Transcendentalists believed that God was present in every aspect of life, and could be experienced through the intuition. Every person had a divine inner light that could connect them to God. Their goal was to “transcend” ordinary life to experience the symbolic and spiritual world around them. William Henry Channing describes the philosophy in this manner: "Transcendentalism, as viewed by its disciples, was a pilgrimage from the idolatrous world of creeds and rituals to the temple of the Living God in the soul. It was a putting to silence of tradition and formulas, that the Sacred Oracle might be heard through intuitions of the single-eyed and pure-hearted. Amidst materialists, zealots, and skeptics, the Transcendentalist believed in perpetual inspiration, the miraculous power of will, and a birthright to universal good. He sought to hold communion face to face with the unnameable Spirit of his spirit, and gave himself up to the embrace of nature's perfect joy, as a babe seeks the breast of a mother"(American Transcendentalist Web). Social impact ''Morality Excerpt from Philip F. Gura's "Transcendentalism and Social Reform": "At its core, Transcendentalism celebrated the divine equality of each soul. They believed that anyone could have a transcendent experience and thereafter live his life connected to the spiritual world. Transcendentalism thus seemed the ideal philosophy that eople are created equal and have the same inalienable rights. According to this principle, the movement spurred social reform, for if all men and women were spiritually equal from birth, they all deserved to be treated with social and political equality as well. Because of this basic belief, many Transcendentalists became involved in efforts to reverse conditions that prevented individuals from realizing their full potential. " -Philip F. Gura, "Transcendentalism and Social Reform", para 3 ''Abolitionism'' Transcendentalists abhorred slavery and were fervent in believing that slavery is the great evil to be extinguished. Fighting against the Fugitive Slave Law 1793, TransendentalistTheodore Parker was the leader in Abolitionist movements who condemned the Southern slaveholders and the politicians they elected. He genuinely worried that liberty might fail. (Gura, "Reform", para 12,13) ''Civil Disobedience'' Thoreaus, as a devoted Transcendentalist, was disgusted by slavery and the Mexican-Amercan War. Thoreau's 1849 essay "Resistance to Civil Government", stimulated by his imprisonment when he refused to pay government tax for the war, was one of the great legacies of Transcendentalism. It reminded people to not conform to the society and served as the first paradigm of implementing protests against the government. Thoreau envisioned protests like this: "Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence... If the alternative is to keep all just men in prison, or give up war and slavery, the State will not hesitate which to choose. If a thousand men were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible"(Thoreau, "Disobedience", part II, para 9).This later was referred by Monhandas K. Gandhi in his campaign to gain Indian independence from Britain and by Martin Luther King Jr. in his campaign for racial equality. ''Feminism'' Margaret Fuller, influenced by Emerson’s doctrine of self-reliance, became the foremost advocate of women’s rights in her day. Her Woman in the Nineteenth Century, in which she argued, on Transcendentalist principles, "the economic and psychological equality of the sexes, influenced many Transcendentalists and others." Ever since then, many women who had devoted themselves to women’s rights received impact from such arguments and believed that their equality would come after that of African Americans (Gura, "Reform", para 6). Literature Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, and Dikinson The Transcendentalist movement dramatically shaped the trend in American literature. Many writers were inspired and taught by Emerson and Thoreau in particular, and created new derivations because of the literary and philosophical ideas they had asorbed. "Walt Whitman was not the only writer to claim that he was "simmering, simmering, simmering" until reading Emerson brought him "to a boil." Emily Dickinson's poetic direction was quite different, but she too was a thoughtful reader of Emerson and Fuller. In his own way, even Frederick Douglass incorporated many lessons of transcendental thought from Emerson"(American Transcendentalist Web). ''Dark Romanticism & Anti-Transcendentalism'' Transcendentalism also stimulated a opposing faction in 19th century literature. Dark Romanticism is a literary subgenre centred on the New England writers Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. As opposed to the perfectionist beliefs of Transcendentalism, the Dark Romantics emphasised human fallibility to sin and self-destruction, as well as the difficulties inherent in attempts at social reform. Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville found creative ways to object to many aspects of their transcendental contemporaries. Overall Influence In general, the Transcendentalism was a versatile movement that impacted religion, philosophy, social reforms and literature in the 19th century America and signified a new era of original American Intellectualism. Bibliography 1. A Guide to Transcdendentalism. A Guide to Transcendentalism. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2013." 2. American Transcendentalism Web." American Transcendentalism Web. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2013. 3. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "The American Scholar." 1866. The Annals of America. Vol. 6. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britanica, 1968. 367-78. Print. 4. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Nature. Boston: James Munroe and, 1836. Nature : Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. 5. Goodman, Russell, Goodman,. "Transcendentalism." Stanford University. Stanford University, 06 Feb. 2003. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. 6. Gura, Philip F. "Transcendentalism and Social Reform." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2013. 7. Thoureau, Henry David. Walden. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906. Walden | Walden Woods. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. 8. Thoureau, Henry David. "Civil Disobedience." The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906. N. pag. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. 9. "26f. Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy." Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy ushistory.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. Photograph source: 10. "Prints & Photographs Online Catalog." Prints & Photographs Online Catalog. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013. .